Gun type inoculator



July 7, 1970 o. H. BANKER 3,518,990

GUN TYPE INOCULATOR Filed May 2 1968 :1 Sheets-Sheet 1 Oscar H. BankerJuly 7, 1970 o. H. BANKER GUN TYPE INOCULATOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May2 1968 nited States Patent Office 3,518,990 Patented July 7 1'9703,518,990 GUN TYPE IN OCULATOR Oscar H. Banker, Bay Products DevelopmentCo., P.0. Box 9732, Bay Village, Ohio 44140 Filed May 2, 1968, Ser. No.726,083 Int. Cl. A61m 11/00 US. Cl. 128-173 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE In a gun type inoculator for giving mass injections wherein aremovable inoculant pump is provided which is permanently connected to asource of inoculant, means are provided for quickly releasing the pumpand its connected source of inoculant from the gun to remove it forquickly changing from one drug to another and includes a remotelycontrolled ball-type coupling between the piston rod of the pump and thepiston rod of the gun. Shim means is provided for simply and accuratelyregulating the stroke of the pump piston end therefor the dose injectedby each operation of the inoculator.

This invention relates to lgun type inoculators for giving massinoculations.

In my prior Pat. No. 3,292,622, granted Dec. 20, 1966, for PowerOperated IInoculator, there is disclosed an inoculator gun having afluid-operated piston which is connected to the rod of a smaller pistonforming part of an inoculant pump. The latter has a small orificethrough which the inoculant is ejected, and has further a suctionchamber connected to a vial of the inoculant secured to the pump. Thepump and its attached vial are removable as a unit, so that thephysician or nurse can change inoculants. Of necessity, for preventingexposure of the interior of the pump to atmosphere, the piston of theinoculant pump and its rod must remain with the pump and hence, when thepump is removed, the rod must be disconnected from the fluid-operatedpiston :by which it is operated.

In my said prior patent, the rod is disclosed as being connected to thefluid-operated piston by being threaded into an extension of the saidpiston. To remove the inoculant pump or head as it is sometimes called,the rod must be unscrewed from the fluid-operated piston, which is asomewhat awkward operation in view of the (unsymmetrical) shapes of boththe head and gun, and besides, the unscrewing operation is slower thandesired.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide aquick-disconnect coupling between the rod of the inoculant pump pistonand the fluid-operated piston of an inoculator by which the pump and itspiston can be quickly disconnected from the gun for removal therefrom.

In my aforesaid patent there is also disclosed a dosagegauging devicewhich is movable with the fluid-operated piston and the coupling devicefor the pump piston. Said dosage-gauging device is in the form ofcylindrical spacers which encircle a portion of the coupling device sothat when it is desired to change the dosage, it is necessary partiallyto disassemble the pump, remove the gauging" device, replace it with thedesired one and then reassemble the pump.

A further object of this invention is the provision of an improveddosage-gauging device for the foregoing inoculator which remains withthe inoculator gun, but is nevertheless quickly adjustable to vary thedosage produced by the pump.

These and other objects and features of this invention will becomeapparent from the following detailed description of a preferredembodiment of the invention when taken together with the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. l is a fragmentary side elevational view partly in section of theinvention as applied to an inoculator gun;

FIG. 2 is a section through a portion of the coupling device taken alongline 2 2 of FIG. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows at theends of said line;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged elevation in section of the coupling means for thepump in its normal operating condition;

FIG. 4 is a view corresponding to FIG. 3 showing the coupling in itsdisengaged condition;

FIG. 5 is an exploded View of the gun of FIG. 1 showing the pump and itspiston. rod disconnected from the gun itself;

FIG. 6 is a section taken through the pump of FIG. 5 along line 6-6thereof and looking toward the left in that figure;

'FIG. 7 is an end elevational view of the gun of FIG. 5 from theposition of line 7-7 thereof and looking in the direction of the arrowsat the end of said line;

FIG. 8 is an end elevational view in section of the gun of FIG. 5 takenalong line 8-8 and looking in the direction of the arrows at the endthereof; and

FIG. 9 is a plan view of the gauge portion of the gun of FIG. 5 takenfrom the position of line 9-9 in FIG. 5.

The coupling and gauging means of this invention may be applied tovarious forms of inoculators and the one hereinafter to be describedtherefore is to be taken merely as illustrative of the manner in whichthe invention may be used. Thus the inoculator selected to illustratethis invention is comprised of a main hollow body 10 in the form of ahorizontal cylinder from which depends a iiange 11 into which isthreaded a handle 12. Within handle 12 may be disposed a source of gasunder pressure in the form of a small bottle 13 connected by a tube 14to a control valve 15 from which the compressed gas is conducted througha passage 16 to the interior 17 of the main body 10. An appropriatetrigger mechanism 18 is used to operate the control valve 15.

The interior 17 of body 10 constitutes a cylinder the front end of whichis closed by a sleeve 19 into which projects the inoculant pump 20. Abayonet type joint 21 serves to removably lock the pump 20` in sleeve 19(FIG. 2).

Pump 20 has a nozzle 22 at one end thereof through the orifice 23 ofwhich inoculant is ejected from the interior 24 of the pump. Theinoculant is introduced into pump 20 from an inverted vial 25appropriately clamped to a hollow boss 26 on pump 20 by a U-shaped strap27 (shown turned from its normal position in FIG. 1). Hollow boss 26communicates with pumpinterior 24 through a passage 28 connecting thetwo. Ejection of inoculant is effected by the reciprocation of a pumppiston 29 in the interior 24 of the pump past the passage 28, thereciprocation producing a suction stroke during which the inoculant istransferred from the vial to the interior of the pump and a pressurestroke` during which the inoculant is ejected through orifice 23. It maybe apparent that the length of the stroke of piston 29 determines thevolume of inoculant ejected. As shown in detail in my aforesaid patent,piston 29 has a valve which cooperates with pist0n rod 30 to allow theinoculant to flow between the piston 29 and piston rod 30 during thesuction stroke of the rod and to prevent such passage of inoculantduring the pressure stroke thereof. Thus piston 29 is actually a form ofsleeve which is spaced fromv rod 30 and is appropriately sealed -Withrespect thereto during the pressure stroke, but is separated therefromby the suction stroke.

The piston rod 30 is connected to a larger piston 31 which ymay becalled the operating piston and which reciprocates in the cylinder 32formed in the interior of main body 10. Said operating piston 31 is inturn secured to a hollow rod 33 which extends outwardly from body to theright, as viewed in FIG. l, through an opening therein in which is aseal ring 58, and has secured to the free end thereof a sleeve 34 onwhich is a radially extending flange 35. The novel dosage gauging device36 of this invention, to be hereinafter described in detail, is retainedbetween flange 35 and body 10.

It may be observed from the description thus far given that to maintainthe interior of the inoculant pump in a sterile condition at all times,it is necessary that piston 29 and rod 30 be retained with the pumpwhenever the pump and its vial are removed from the gun body 10. Suchremoval may be necessitated, for example, when the inoculant is to bechanged to a different kind, in which event it is simpler to remove thepump 20 and its vial 25 and replace the pump and vial with a second pumpin which a vial containing the desired inoculant is already clamped. Itis desirable to have a quick-release connection between the piston rod30 and the operating piston 31.

Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, the operating piston 31, the piston rod30, and the connection therebetween, are shown on an enlarged scale andin section. In these gures hollow rod 33 is shown to have an enlargedend 37 against which operating piston 31 abuts, said enlarged end 37having a counterbore 38 in which is received the reduced end 39 ofpiston rod 30. The end 40 of hollow rod 33 abuts upon the shoulder 41formed by the reduced end 39 of piston rod 30.

The coupling between piston rod 30 and hollow rod 33 s comprised of oneor more balls 42 which are received in round openings 43 disposed nearthe left hand end as viewed in FIGS. 3 and 4 of the hollow rod 33. Theradial thickness of said end region is less than the diameter of theballs 42, but said balls are adapted to be received in a peripheralgroove 44 in the reduced end 39 of rod 30, so that when the balls areretracted radially inwardly into groove 44 the outside surfaces of saidballs do not extend beyond the outer surface 45 of the hollow rod 33.

The possible positions of ball 42 are determined by a control sleeve 46which surrounds the enlarged end 37 of rod 33, as well as the portionthereof in which the balls are disposed. Said control sleeve 46 is madeto embrace and bear axially against the ends of a radially disposed pin47 which passes through axially oriented slots 48 in enlarged end 37 andthrough the counterbore 38. The means by which control sleeve 46 is madeto bear against the ends of pin 47 comprises a compression spring 49which abuts upon sleeve 46 and upon a washer 50 held against axialmovement to the left as viewed in FIGS. 3 and 4 by a snap ring 51.

Outer surface 45 of enlarged end 37 represents a reduced diameterportion of the hollow rod 33 with reference to the diameter of theportion 37. Since counterbore i 38 is of constant diameter and extendsinto the portion 37, the latter has a greater radial dimension than theportion in which the balls are retained. The radial dimension of thisenlarged portion is made slightly larger than the diameter of the balls42. The interior of sleeve 46 is stepped so that when said controlsleeve 46 is moved to the left, as viewed in FIGS. 3 and 4, to bring theportion of said sleeve of greater internal diameter in alignment withballs 42, the latter may be moved radially outwardly so as not to extendinto counterbore 38. Thus it is apparent that by changing the axialposition of control sleeve 46, the balls 42 may be moved radially intogroove 44 to lock piston rod 30 to the hollow rod 33 as shown in FIG. 3,or released to allow the balls to move radially outwardly to free thepiston rod 30, as shown in FIG. 4, and to allow said rod to be slidaxially out of the counterbore 38.

The position of control sleeve 46 is determined by a push rod 52 whichpasses through a portion of hollow rod 33 and into the counterbore 38 inproximity to pin 47.

Push rod 52 also extends outwardly to the right, as shown in FIGS. 3 and4, out of hollow rod 33 where its free end 53 is capped by a button 54.Push rod 52, is retained in the hollow rod 33 by a shoulder 55 formed inpush rod 52 and adapted to abut upon a shoulder 56 formed in hollow rod33. Other forms of stop for push rod 52 may suggest themselves to thoseskilled in the art.

Thus sleeve 46 may be moved to the left, as viewed in FIGS. 3 and 4, bypushing button 54 and its associated push rod 52 in the same directionrelative to hollow rod 33 whereby the end of push rod 52 contacts pin 47and moves said pin in its slots 48 toward the left in said FIGS. 3 and4. The ends of pin 47 are received in a counterbore 57 in the controlsleeve so that said sleeve is constrained to move with the pin againstthe action of compression spring 49. The counterbore 57 also serves toretain pin 47 in control sleeve 46 in appropriately centered relation inthe slots 48. To move sleeve 46 to the right, as viewed in FIGS. 3 and4, button 54 is released and spring 49 then is free to move the sleeveas well as the pin 47 and push rod 52 to the right, as viewed in FIGS. 3and 4, to the position shown in FIG. 3. In the latter position, theballs 42 are retained in the peripheral groove 44 in piston rod 30 andserve to lock the latter to hollow rod 33. When the balls 42 are movedoutwardly, as in FIG. 4, pump 20 may be removed from body 10 by rotatingthe pump until the bayonet joint 21 is free, whereupon the pump and itspiston rod 30 may be drawn axially out of body 10. The withdrawn pump20, its vial 25 and piston rod 30, are shown in FIG. 5.

The dosage gauge 36 is shown in greater detail in FIGS. 5, 8 and 9. Itis comprised of a pin 59 which is secured to a plate 60' fastened Ibyscrews 61 or the like to the end 62 of body 10. Pin 59 extends axiallyfrom plate 60- and is radially oifset from hollow rod 33. A plurality ofhookshaped shims 63 are threaded over pin 59 and are adapted to beclamped against plate 60 by a thumb nut 64. The shims 63, when loose,may be swung from a position wherein they are hooked over the hollow rod33, as shown in FIG. 8, to a position shown in dotted outline in thatfigure in which they are free of said rod. In both positions they abutagainst a second pin 65 which acts as a stop pin and prevents the shimsfrom striking and marring rod 33.

The thickness of each shim 63 and the number of shims may be so selectedas to divide the Stroke of the pump piston 29 into metric units ofvolume. Thus each shim 63 may represent a volume of one-tenth of a cubiccentimeter, so that if the desired injection is one cubic centimeter,ten shims will be swung away from hollow rod 33 to the position shown indotted outline in FIG. 8. The counting of the shims begins from theflange 35 and the shims not rotated to the dotted position shown in FIG.8 constitute abutments in the path of movement of flange 35 which arrestthe movement of the flange and its associated rod 33. This, in turn,arrests the movement of the pump piston rod 30 and the pump piston 29 ata position to displace the desired amount of inoculant from the pump 20.To simplify counting the shims, every shim representing a unit dosagemay be provided with a tab 68.

To compensate for production errors, sleeve 34 is adjustably mounted onrod 33, preferably by threads 67, so that its distance of flange 35relative to the shims 63- may be accurately determined. After it isaccurately located on rod 33, sleeve 34 may be xed to the rod by anywellknown means.

Any selected dosage is xed by turning thumb nut 64 to clamp the shims 63against plate 60. If another gradation of shims is desired, plate A60 isremoved by loosening screw 61 and with it are removed shims `63 on theirpin 59 and the stop pin 65. Another plate 60 with its selected shims 63is then fastened to body 10` by the screw 61. This replacement of onedosage gauging device with another can be accomplished withoutdisassembling any other part of the gun, inasmuch as plate 60` has anopening 66 therein which is large enough to allow the plate to pass overflange 35. Should the gun be operated inadvertently while a gaugingdevice is removed, flange 35 will strike the body of the gun and preventdamage to the pump 20.

It is understood that shims 63 may be removed completely from pin 59 andreplaced with other shims, instead of removing and replacing an entiregauging unit including plate `60. Removing and replacing only the shimsmay result in inadvertently mixing shims of dilferent sizes which inturn may result in giving incorrect doses of the inoculant, and hencereplacing the entire dosage gauging device is preferred.

The quick release coupling of this invention, with its push rod 52passing through the hollow rod 33, and the quickly adjustable dosagegauge cooperating with the exterior of rod 33 make for a compact, simpleand readily usable inoculator gun.

I claim:

1. An inoculator gun having a hollow body, an inoculant pump extendingfrom one end of the hollow body, a reciprocable piston in said pump, arod extending from the pump piston into the hollow body, said rod beingsecured to said piston, an operating piston in the hollow body disposedsubstantially concentrically with respect to the pump piston, a rod onthe operating piston extending through the hollow body and outwardlyfrom the opposite end of the hollow body, and disconnectable means forsecuring the inoculant pump to the hollow body characterized byquick-disconnect coupling means establishing a connection between thepump rod and the operating piston, a control element for thequick-disconnect means, and means extending from the said controlelement to the exterior of the operating piston rod for operating thesaid control element.

2. An inoculator gun as described in claim 1, characterized further inthat said rod on the operating piston is hollow, and said meansextending from said control element to the exterior of the operatingpiston rod passes through said hollow operating piston rod.

3. An inoculator gun as described in claim 1, characterized further inthat said quick-disconnect coupling comprises an end of the pump pistonrod telescoped into the operating piston rod, radially movable meansinterlocking the pump piston rod and the operating piston rod, and saidcontrol element comprising an axially slidable sleeve on the operatingpiston rod and movable from` a position in which said radially movablemeans is held in position to interlock the pump piston rod and theoperating piston rod to a position in which said radially movable meansis released to move radially out of interlocking position with respectto the pump piston rod.

4. An inoculator gun as described in claim 1, characterized further inthat a dosage-gauging device is provided on the hollow body, saiddosage-gauging device comprising a pin on the body, a radially outwardlyextending abutment on the said operating piston rod on the operatingpiston disposed outside of the body, and pivoted shims on the pinadapted to be selectively interposed between the abutment on the saidoperating piston rod and the body to arrest the movement of saidoperating piston rod into the body.

5. An inoculator gun as described in claim 4, characterized further inthat means are provided for removably securing said pin to the body andsaid pin securing means has an opening therein through which theabutment is adapted to pass, such that said dosage device may be removedfrom the gun while the said abutment is mounted on the operating pistonrod.

6. An inoculator gun as described inl claim 4, characterized further inthat releasable means are provided on the pin for clamping the shims tothe pin.

7. An inoculator gun as described in claim 4, said shims beinghook-shaped and adapted to hook around said rod on the operating pistoninto the path of movement of said abutment.

8. An inoculator as described in claim 4, and a stop pin for the shimssupported on the body to limit rotation of said pivoted shims in onedirection.

9. An inoculator gun as described in claim 4, and a stop pin located inthe path of rotation of said pivoted shims in both directions ofrotation thereof, said stop pin being supported on said body.

10. An inoculator gun as described in claim 4, said abutment comprisinga sleeve, and means for adjusting the axial position of said sleeve onsaid operating piston rod.

11. An inoculator gun as described in claim 4, said abutment comprisinga sleeve, cooperating threads on the sleeve and operating piston rod toradjusting the axial position of said sleeve on said operating pistonrod, and means for fixing the sleeve in an adjusted position on saidoperating piston rod.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,816,543 12/1957 Venditty et al.128--173 FOREIGN PATENTS 964,585 7/ 1964 Great Britain.

WARNER H. CAMP, Primary Examiner

